Device for facilitating the filling of fountain pens



' pril l2, 1932.

O. F. NILSSON E T AL Filed Dec. 30. 1927 DEVICE FOR FACILITATING THE FILLING OF FOUNTAIN PENS Patented Apr. 12, 1932 l UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE OSCAR RNILSSON AND JOSEPH ABAGHZR'AOH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .LSSIGNORS TO L E. WATERMAN IOOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION F NEW YORK DEVICE FOI-'t FACILI'IATING THE FILLING 0F FOUNTAIN PENS application mea December so, 1927. serial iro. uam.

This invention relates to devices for facilitating the filling of .fountain pens, and hasv user may safel ll the pen without soiling it and bevisua ly cognizant of the fact that the ink sack or chamber of the en has been filled with ink, and also so designed that it can quickly be refilled with ink directly from any ordinary ink bottle.

In one practical embodiment of our presj ent improvements, the device consistsV ofk a main ink receiving chamber or reservoir and a well positioned at a lower level and in communication with said reservoir, together with 4means at the top of the well which will permit of the insertion of pen points of any of the various sizes in general use into the well 20 but limits such insertion of the pen point so' that the outer surfaces of the barrel of the pen will not be immersed in the It is also another object of the invention to provide an ink receptacle for the above 5 purpose having a basin or cup into which the ink'is adapted to be poured and an additional duct or passage opening into said cup and into the main ink receiving chamber or reservoir and to provide the body of the recepta- 39, cle with surfaces extending at right angles `\to each other, said duct serving as an air inlet passage when the receptacle is arranged in position for use with one of said surfaces constituting the base, and said duct constituting a feed inlet passage, when the other of said surfaces constitutes the base and through which ink poured into said cup is supplied to the main chamber or reservoir. A It is a further object of ,our invention to y, provide a device for the above purpose having a body which may be readilymolded or fashioned from hard rubber, bakelite, or other similar material and a detachable bottle or gether with' means for tightly sealing the connection between said bottle and the body of the device andwhereby, the entrance of air- 45 reservoir for the ink of transparent glass, izo-.

user is thereby apprised of the fact that the ink has entered the pen.

. It is also a further general object of `our present improvements to provide a device-for facilitating the filling of ountain pens which may be readily manufactured in various ornamental forms orshapes and which, while providing'an ink reservoir or chamber of large capacity will occupy a relatively small t area of desk space. a

With the above and other objects in view, thekinvention consists in the improved device for facilitating the filling. of fountain pens, and in the form, construction, and relative arrangement of its several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illusposition in Fig. 2 for the purpose of filling A the ink chamber or reservoir; v

Fig. 4 is a. front elevation, and

Fig. 5 is a rear end elevation.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the base or body 5 of the device may be readily molded into the desired shape or form from hard rubber, bakelite or other suitable composition material, and preferabl has a lower l hollow ortion 6 and above .sai hollow ortion is ormed with a chamber or cavity of relatively large diameter opening upon the upper surface of said body, the vertical wall of this chamber being formed with' a coarse thread indicated at 8.

The body structure 5 also includes a forwardly projecting part or extension 9 of relduced width having at its upper end a cu lshaped wall or flange 10 rising from the horii t yzo zontal surfaceindicated at 11. This art 9 of the body 5 is formed with a well 12 o comparatively smallcapacity which opens upon the surface 11, and the wall of this -well is formed with the vertically extending ribs 13, preferably four in number arranged in diametrically' opposed relation to each other. The provision of these ribs produces between the adjacent ribs the grooves or channels 14 which are adapted to receive the point or nib p of the fountain pen P. The istance between the central points of the opposed grooves 14, is sufficient to receive pen points of the lar er sizes, whereas the reduction of the area o the well between these Grooves resulting from the inwardly proj ectino' ribs 13,

prevents the entrance of thefend of the barrel' of the pen into the well, the end face of the barrel resting upon the surface 11 as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

The lower end of the well 12 is connected with the cavity or chamber 7 by the inclined duct or passage 15. An ink receiving bottle or reservoir 16, preferably of transparent glass has an externally threaded end 17 adapted to be engaged with the threads 8 on the wall of the chamber 7, said bottle bein also provided at the inner end of the threa 17 with an external circumferential bead 18. This bead is adapted to engage with a packin ring or gasket 19 of compressible materia and compress the same tightly upon the annular seatin surface 20 surroundinv the upper open si e of the chamber 7, tus producing an air and fluid tight connection between the bottle and the wall of said chamber.

At the rear side of the extension or projection v9, the body 5 is formed with a concave-convex wall 21 rojecting upwardly above the flan e 10 andp constituting a basin. An additiona inclined duct or passage 22 o ens at one of its ends upon the concave wall o this basin above the upper o en end of the well 12, while the other end of) said duct 22 opens upon the bottom wall of the chamber It is desirable that the ducts 15 andv 22 start from the extreme edge of well 7 nearest toward well 12 and basin 21. Otherwise the bottle 16 will not be completelyjlled, as the air cannot escape above outlets of the ducts. If forexample,the ducts enter the well 7 at the center, the bottle 16 can only be half filled.

The other or rear end of the body 5 of the device is formed with an enlargement which includes a vertical extension 23 projecting above the cavity or chamber 7, said enlargement being formed with a flat or plane surface indicated at 24 which extends in substantially parallel relation with the wall of the bottle 16 and at right angles to the lower face 25 of the body 5.

If desired, the body 5 of the device may also be formed at the front portion thereof and at opposite sides of the extension 9 with ation the user would find that the pen the well 12 until the barrel thereof rests upon the surface 11 as indicated in dotted lines, it being understood that ink enters said well from the bottle or reservoir through the assage 15 and completely fills the well. T us, it 1s certain that thepen will be immersed in the ink to the required depth above the suction inlet passage through the pen point. Therefore, when the filllng lever or other member of the pen is operated, a full charge of ink will be drawn 'into the sack or reservoir of the pen from the well 12. As this ink is replaced from the chamber 7, air enters the chamber through the duct or passage 22 and rises upwardly through the body of ink in the bottle 16. As the wall of this bottle is transparent, the user may observe the air bubbles rising throu h the ink, which affords visual assurance of tie fact that the penis in proper operating condition and that ink has entered the ink chamber or reservoir thereof. In ink receptacles heretofore used in the filling of fountain pens, no means was provided as a gauge which determined the necessa extent of immersion of the pen into the in in order that the ink would be drawn into the sack or ink chamber of the en and frequently, it would happen that a er such an o ar not been filled. It will be apparent that our present invention entirely, overcomes this uncertainty, as not only does our improvements provide a positive gauge means which insures the proper lmmersion of the pen into the ink and without,on the other hand, covering the surface of the pen barrel with ink, but also provides a visual indication of the alctdthat the ink chamber-ofthe pen has been In order to replenish the bottlev or reservoir 16 with ink,l the device is positioned at right angles to the position as yseen in Fi 2 and with the end surface 24 of the bo y 5 constituting the base in contact with the surface of the desk. Such ink as remains will flow from the well 12 downwardly through the passage 15 and into the bottle 16 as will v be clearly seen from reference to Fig. 3 of the through the passage 15, while air enters through the passa e or duct 22 until the well 12 is completely ed with ink. The bottle or reservoir 16- may be of any desired size or `capacity so that it will be necessary to rev ill the same only after long intervals of continued use. When however, it becomes necessary to clean the ink chambers or passages, this bottle 16 can be readily Unthreaded from the body 5 and said bottle as well as the walls of the vink chamber 7 and the several ink passages or-ducts of the body 5 can be easily and thoroughly cleaned.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that we have devised a sim l constructed device whereby the filling oilfyduntain pens of the self filling typev may be greatly facilitatedJ and this operation accomplished very qulckly without waste of ink and with the definite assurance hereto.

OSCAR F. NILSSON.

JOSEPH BAGHRACH. so

that the pen has been filled, without being v soiled with ink on the barrel. y The structural form in which we have illustrated our several improvements is thought to be most de sirable from the standpoint of economy in manufacture and for the production of the device in ornamental form and of vsuch `size and shape that it will occup a relatively small 'area of desk space anniI yet aord a maximum capacity of the ink supply chamberor reservoir. However, it will be understood that'the essential features of our novel construction might also be embodied in various other alternative structural forms ofthe body 5 and the reservoir or bottle 16, and accordingly, we do not regard our invention as necessarily limited to the particular form and construction of these parts as illustrated in the drawings, but reserve the privilege of resorting to all such le 'timate modifications thereof as ma b'e fairl embodied within the spirit an scope o the invention as claimed. y We claim:

1. A device for facilitating the filling of self-filling fountain pens -comprising a relatively large chamber anda relatively small capacity well horizontally spaced a art, a duct leading from a point adjacent the ottom of said chamber. to aoint adjacent the bottom of said well, andp a filling and air inlet passage leading from a point adjacent the bottom of said chamber to .a point between said chamber and said'well.

2. A device for facilitating the filling of self-iilling fountain pens comlprising a body having thereon a relatively arge` chamber, means forming two passages extending laterally from said chamber, and one terminating at a point nearerthe chamber thancthe other, whereby the one furthest from thel chamber may be used as apen-filling well and the other as a filln and alr inlet passage substantiall as descri 65 3. A evice'for `facilitating filling of 

